A German court on Wednesday sentenced a former member of a Syrian militant group closely allied with ex-Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad to 10 years in prison for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The verdict found that the man, a former leader of the Shabiha militia in Syria indentified in court documents only as Ahmad H, took part in severe abuses of civilians and looting in Damascus between 2012 and 2015 during the bloody civil war.
The militia, in cooperation with a branch of al-Assad’s military intelligence service, was to suppress opposition efforts by force.
At the time, the front line in the Syrian civil war ran through the Tadamon neighbourhood of Damascus. The accused had civilians arbitrarily taken away at checkpoints, who were then forced to carry sandbags for government troops, sometimes under fire.
The court in Hamburg ruled that the forced labour was a form of slavery. According to the presiding judge, several of the victims who testified at the trial reported being mistreated by the accused.
In the neighbourhood, he used his position as a militia leader to help himself to free goods from intimidated owners in stores.
The court heard more than 25 witnesses. The accused denied the allegations.
According to the court, the man had entered Germany in February 2016 and had applied for asylum.
A Syrian roommate in a shelter recognized him and reported him to authorities. He was arrested by police on August 2 in the northern German city of Bremen.
The verdict is not yet final and may be appealed.
